Bomb arming solenoid



Aug. 17, 1965 Filed Sept. 5, 1963 I 1 W! H NH 1: MI; 76 F f i W. F. WESTBOMB ARMING SOLENOID 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR William F Wes! g- 17,1955 w. F. WEST 3,200,

BOMB ARMING SOLENO ID Filed Sept. 5, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,200,707 BDMB ARMING SQLENOID William F.West, Glendale, Caiif., assignor to Standard Armament Inc., Glendale,Caiif., a corporation of California Filed Sept. 5, 1963, Ser. No.306,948 1 Claim. (Cl. 89-15) This invention relates to a solenoid lockand, in particular, to a solenoid arming unit for holding the ring of abomb arming wire.

Arming ring locks are used for holding the ring of an arming wire sothat, if a bomb is accidentally dropped, the ring will pull loose fromthe lock without arming the bomb. On the other hand, if an armed bomb isto be deliberately dropped, then the locking device is brought into lockposition so that the arming wire is held and pulls loose from thedropping bomb so that an armed bomb is released. Such devices are shown,for example, in Wilkie, Patent No. 2,922,340, and Anderson et al.,Patent No. 2,992,594.

The object of this invention is to produce an improved solenoid lockingunit which is of simple construction and of great reliability.

The means by which these objects are obtained are set forth more fullywith reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of the solenoid lock;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an end view of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of FIGURE 3.

The solenoid lock is composed of a cylindrical housing formed from ametal tube which surrounds a solenoid winding formed of a coil of wires12 wound on a synthetic plastic spool 14 having a smooth inner Wallwhich serves as the cylinder wall for an anvil or armature 16.

Armature 16 is composed of a solid body of soft steel having a loweredconical end 18 which is obred to receive the press-fitted non-magneticstainless steel locking pin 20. A housing plunger base portion 22 has anupper annular flange 24 which surrounds and tightly engages the lowerouter surface portion of the housing 10. A soft metal bushing 26 havinga conical seat 28 in one end thereof fits in the cylindrical core of thespool 14 and into a recessed portion in base 22. A spring 30 ispositioned between the bushing and the pin 20 to urge the anvil 16 intothe upper position as shown in FIGURE 5. This anvil has a longitudinallyextending groove 32 for the passage of air displaced by movement of theanvil. Spool 14 is seated upon a soft steel washer 34 in the bottom ofthe recess formed by the flange 24.

The top of this solenoid lock is closed by a molded fiber plastic washer40. This washer has two circular recesses in the upper side thereof forreceiving internally threaded sockets 42 into which the connecting wireterminals 44 are eventually threaded. Washer 40 has a circular boss 46fitting into the upper end of the spool 14 and an oppositely positioneddivider 48 extending between the terminals 44 for preventing the frayedends of the connecting wires from contacting each other and shortcircuiting. Drill holes through the washer are provided for the leadwires 50 coming from the winding and which have their free ends solderedto the sockets 42. The washer is topped by an epoxy potting 52 cast intoplace.

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Base portion 22 contains a cylindrical bore in which is mounted aplunger 62. This plunger has a circumferential groove 64 into which thelower end of pin 20 is adapted to extend to lock the plunger inposition. The plunger has a bore 66 in one end into which extends acompression spring 63. The other end of the plunger has a solid conicalnose postion 70 extending through plunger nose outlet opening 72 acrossthe nose closing ring slot 74 through ring 76 and then bearing againstthe inner wall of a flange 77 as urged by spring 68. The grrlning wirering 76, shown in dashed lines, is thus An annular flange 78 forms agroove around nose 70 and has an O-ring 80 sea ed therein to form a sealagainst dirt and moisture entering the cylindrical bore 60. The oppositecap opening end of cylindrical bore 60 is closed by a locking cap disc82 which is tightly press-fitted into a shoulder formed at the end ofthe bore.

Threaded bolt holes extend through base portion 22 for the purpose offastening the lock to a supporting structure.

In operation, the coil 1.2 is not energized and the locking pin remainsin its upper unlocked position as urged by spring 39. The arming wirering 76 is then pushed into the opening 74 and forces the plunger nose70 to open against the pressure of spring 68. Under a fivepound pull onring 76, the spring 68 will yield and let the ring he pulled loose fromthe locking nose 70. However, when a bomb with a live fuse is to bedropped, the coil 12 is energized and forces the anvil 16 down wardlyagainst the pressure of spring 30 so that the lower end of the pinenters into groove 64 to prevent movement of the plunger 62.Consequently, a pull of at least a hundred pounds on ring 76 will notmove the nose portion 70 and the arming wire will pull free from thebomb fuse so that an actively fused bomb is dropped.

As stainless steel pin 20 is substantially non-magnetic, there will beno tendency for it to cling to have its movements impeded by themagnetic field created by the coil 12 and in the bushing 26.

Having now described the means by which the objects of the invention areobtained, I claim:

In a solenoid lock having a housing, a cylindrical solenoid coil in saidhousing, an armature and locking pin movably mounted in said coil, and aspring-pressed plunger adapted to be engaged by said locking pin, theimprovement comprising a plunger base portion on said housing, acylindrical bore through said base portion and having a plunger noseoutlet opening and a cap opening and containing said spring-pressedplunger, an annular flange on said plunger forming a groove facing saidplunger nose outlet opening at the nose end of said plunger, an O-ringseated in said groove and surrounding said nose outlet opening forsealing said nose outlet opening, and a locking cap press-fitted intosaid cap opening and forming an abutment for the spring of saidspring-pressed plunger.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,449,438 9/48Wisegarver 317-191 2,845,003 7/58 Thomas 89-1 2,902,557 9/59 Brockman20082 2,987,655 6/61 McCurdy 317-458 X JOHN F. BURNS, Primary Examiner.

LARAMIE E. ASKIN, Examiner.

